British, Indian scientists to use underwater robots in study of subcontinent's monsoon

NEW DELHI – Scientists from Britain and India will release underwater robots into the Bay of Bengal in a bid to more accurately predict India's monsoon, an event critical to millions of farmers, they said Tuesday. Researchers will also fly a plane packed with scientific equipment over the bay to measure the atmosphere as part of the multimillion-dollar study of the monsoon, which hit southern India last week. Better forecasting will improve the livelihoods of India's more than 200 million farmers and agricultural laborers, who are reeling from a devastating drought. Scientists from the University of East Anglia will release seven underwater robots from an Indian ship next week to study how ocean processes influence monsoon rainfall. At the same time, colleagues from the University of Reading and climate experts in India will use instruments on board the plane flying from the southern city of Bangalore to measure heat and moisture in the air.